Cursive woes..help?

[Sue G in PA]

My 10yo used HWOT last year for cursive and finished the book (there are 2 cursive books...he did both). He is now using A Reason For Handwriting b/c that is what I had on hand. He doesn't remember much at all from last year and is throwing major tantrums about it. He hates to write anyway. I'm not sure what to do. Should I get the HWOT books for him to use again (there is one more cursive book for older kids who need more practice)? Or, should I have him use the practice pages of the RFH book even though it is a different style handwriting? I'm so confused! My other kids picked up cursive fairly easily! Thanks.

[pjdobro]

I don't think I would use a handwriting book that is a different style of writing than what he learned before. If he is still processing how to do it introducing a different way might be confusing. Perhaps more practice from the same series or a quick refresher and just let him use cursive in his normal everyday writing would work better. We really loved Cheerful Cursive here so if you are considering a different program, you might want to give it a look. It goes over several different ways each cursive letter can be written and then shows their preferred way. The characters that introduce the letters are very cute, and the lessons are short, so my dc loved it.

[Lynnw]

I don't have a simple answer, but a couple thoughts....

If the next HWOT cursive book is the "Can-Do Cursive" it might get into more Language Arts type work than you want to do. Take a look at the grade level recommendation on it and as much of the Table of Contents and sample pages as possible. It will get into grammar lessons, Greek roots, writing letters and paragraphs, etc. It might be great - or it might just add to your ds's workload... and you might find yourself sitting with him for a subject you thought he could do alone.

I used Cheerful Cursive for my 2nd ds after one book of HWOT cursive. I liked that it helped him learn to read cursive and to see different cursive fonts. Somewhere towards the end he began to get bored with it and we dropped it. Now he can write cursive from a print model. (After summer he had to ask me how to form some of the capital letters).

Also - there might be a couple HWT copybooks available on Lulu.com. Something there might work if he just needs a HWT model but can otherwise copy from the model without re-learning how to form all the letters.

Fwiw, I was looking for cursive copybooks for my dd (to beef up her work as she is 3rd grade doing Beyond and just finished the HWOT cursive book) and I'm considering VP's Classically Cursive - Attributes of God. One thing I've noticed about my kids after they had HWOT is they do okay with other cursive writing as long as it's not too slanted. If it's very slanted they look at me like I've asked them to read Greek.

So, to summarize - depending on if he needs a HWOT model or if he needs to start over from re-learning letter formation, I would either switch to Cheerful Cursive or seek out a HWOT font copybook (or use StartWrite software to create the HWOT font), or find another cursive that is more similar to HWOT (less slant, less loopy, more simple).

(Not much help, am I?)

[Sue G in PA]

Thank you to both of you! I would purchase Cheerful Cursive but don't have the funds right now. Lynn, thanks for the reminder about the copybooks on LuLu! I think I already have one of Julie's copybooks downloaded from when she offered them to WTM people for free! I don't know if it's the HWT font, though. Will have to search. I think that I have decided against the Can-Do-Cursive for the reasons you mentioned, Lynn. I have ARF Handwriting Transition book for my ds8 to use, but I might just photocopy the pages that teach cursive and go from there. When I have the money available, I will probably get Cheerful Cursive for him as well as ds8 and dd6 who is just itching to learn cursive!

[Mumkins]

The Donna Young website has printable sheets for free- http://donnayoung.org/penmanship/cursiv ... riting.htm

[raceNzanesmom]

We're not to cursive yet, but my ds finds it easier to do his poetry copywork if he has a model of the letters in front of him. I just printed a copy of the set we're using and glued it on a file folder. We're also using a notebook from the handwriting publisher for his copywork so the lines are there for him.

Also, my friend has a great method she uses for her kids. If they write it properly the first time they're done. If not, they have to write it again. She also lets them build up to full speed. For example, if 4 sentences need to be written she might only require the first sentence in cursive IF it's done correctly. If it isn't then another sentence has to be done in cursive. As they master that first sentence, then she'll add another and so on until they can get it all done neatly. Make sense? She has 3 kids and this has worked well for them.

[Heather4Him]

Glad you brought this up! My 14yodd still doesn't have great penmanship (cursive or printing), and she also hates to write (would rather type everything on the computer--which isn't always possible). I know a cursive workbook would bring out tears, so maybe the printed online sheets would be good!